FW: Re: Disappeared as transitive (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Magicians unquestionably used to "disappear" long before 1976.

That doesn't mean that their usage - known to a small amateur and
professional community - had any influence on the political sense of the
term, unless Heller was drawing on the magicians' usage, which is
impossible to know, though seemingly unlikely.

JL

On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 9:30 AM, Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> Subject:      Fwd: FW:      Re: Disappeared as transitive (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Bill Mullins couldn't send this to the list: he did the legwork that I
> didn't and found some 1900s cits for "disappear" vt from stage magic
> contexts.
>
> It could be that there are two strands of influence: the stage magic and
> then the Argentine. (I know that for me that transitive disappear has
> that particular political connotation when used of a person because of
> that context.)
>
> ---Amy West
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject:        FW: Re: Disappeared as transitive (UNCLASSIFIED)
> Date:   Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:41:48 -0500
> From:   Mullins, Bill CIV (US) <william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil>
> To:     <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> CC:     Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
>
>
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
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>
> Ms West -- for some reason, my posts have stopped appearing on the
> ADS-L.  Feel free to forward this to the list if you like.
>
> FYI . . . .
>
> Bill Mullins
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Mullins, Bill CIV (US)
> > Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 3:04 PM
> > To: 'American Dialect Society'
> > Subject: RE: Re: Disappeared as transitive (UNCLASSIFIED)
> >
> > Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> > Caveats: NONE
> >
> > _The Conjurers' Monthly Magazine_ Dec 15, 1907 p 106 col 2 "Here on a
> > dock, with no traps, in full view, right under my very nose the
> > professor had successfully disappeared the boy."
> >
> >
> > _The Sphinx_ June 1916 p 64 col 2
> > "Julius used silks which changed colour at will, disappeared a glass
> of
> > water and reproduced it, disappeared a glass of water and reproduced
> > it, and finished up with a tube trick and cards."
> >
> > _The World's Fair_ 11/6/1937 p 12 col 5
> > "His final item gave the members a shock, for he disappeared a
> > handkerchief into a Stodare Egg and revealed the secret in such a
> > manner that the members didn't know whether to sympathize with him or
> > curse him when, with unruffled composure, he proceeded to to [sic]
> show
> > the visitors how it was done and finally surprised everyone by showing
> > it was a real egg after all."
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> > > Behalf Of Amy West
> > > Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 10:33 AM
> > > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > > Subject: Re: Disappeared as transitive
> > >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > ---------------
> > > --------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> > > Subject:      Re: Disappeared as transitive
> > >
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > -
> > > -
> > > --------
> > >
> > > On 3/19/13 12:00 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
> > > > "It doesn't make sense. It isn't even good grammar. What the hell
> > > does
> > > > it mean when they disappear somebody?"
> > > >
> > > > "I don't know."
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > JL
> > > Coming into the conversation late: any parallels in use of "vanish"?
> > > And what about not Argentina, but stage magic as a source of this
> > > transitivity?
> > >
> > > (Just brainstorming at this point: haven't done the legwork yet.)
> > >
> > > (Apologies if this has already been suggested. . . )
> > >
> > > ---Amy West
> > >
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